The lightweight, making his UFC debut after crossing over from Strikeforce, extended his unbeaten streak to 12 fights over the past five and a half years and upset Yves Edwards with a split-decision victory.

The lightweight bout was part of the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC 156 event at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. It aired on FX after additional prelims on Facebook and prior to a main card on pay-per-view.

Vallie-Flagg threw big early and landed a body kick, but Edwards countered with an uppercut. Edwards came with a high kick and nearly landed it But Vallie-Flagg wasn’t afraid to throw, and he had a good right hand, then a knee in the clinch. But when they finally broke, Edwards landed a high kick, and then got a good trip takedown. After the fight moved back to the feet, as they got in close again, Vallie-Flagg held Edwards’ head in place and looked to get an uppercut through. He landed a right hand on the button, then tried a Superman punch. Edwards tagged him with a kick to the body, and as he tried to turn it to a single-leg takedown, Edwards landed a flying knee.

Vallie-Flagg pushed forward in the second, and the two tied up against the cage. Vallie-Flagg just missed a spinning back fist on the break, but his punches to the body were there. Edwards landed a flurry after a jab, but Vallie-Flagg continued to come forward, which was the theme of the fight

Edwards then went after a single-leg takedown, and though Vallie-Flagg defended for a moment, he managed to trip Vallie-Flagg to the ground. From there, Edwards transitioned nicely to side control as Vallie-Flagg held on with two minutes left. Edwards then got to full mount, and as Vallie-Flagg looked to escape, Edwards took his back and went after the rear-naked choke. Vallie-Flagg was able to survive the round, though.

A push kick from Vallie-Flagg opened the third, and he pushed forward – following his corner’s instructions. Edwards ducked nicely away from a pair of uppercuts. He then landed a good knee. Although Vallie-Flagg kept pushing forward, Edwards looked the fresher man midway through the third – until he couldn’t land a takedown. After he let off the attempt, Vallie-Flagg landed a body shot and a right hand, and he started to look for some momentum to close out the round. With a minute left, Edwards tried to mount some bigger offense late. But Vallie-Flagg kept going after the finish, coming forward with his standup attack.

Two of the three judges scored the fight 29-28 in his favor. A third saw the fight 29-28 for Edwards.

Vallie-Flagg (14-3-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) continued his impressive run and extended his unbeaten streak to 12 fights. He hasn’t lost in five and a half years. Edwards (42-19-1 UFC, 10-7 UFC) now has alternated wins and losses for six fights. He falls back into the loss column after a first-round knockout of Jeremy Stephens in December.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

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